Investing in a 21st Century Health Workforce

Billions of dollars have been invested in the US health workforce under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and many more will be invested if the Build Back Better Act passes. Directors of Health Workforce Research Centers (HWRCs) around the country called for social accountability to ensure that these enormous investments support the populations in most need. Their Health Affairs Blog provides illustrative examples of goals and metrics that could be achieved through an interactive consensus process by a multisector body of health workforce leaders convened by the federal government.

Building on their collective expertise across multiple health care professions, the HWRC Directors previously collaborated to identify ways to strengthen and sustain the health workforce during the pandemic and to call upon policymakers to modernize scope-of-practice regulations in a manner that prioritizes patients, both published in the New England Journal of Medicine.